#having disabled hero characters?

[wacky-nameless-inventor-24]

blind royalty Gandra you say?

thinking about it! I’m not sure yet- I’m gonna keep looking into it and also figuring if it’s something Im able to give like. space and meaning to in the story. Not sure if she was hatched blind or if she lost her sight sometime when she was a kid- I’m trying to figure if the assassin group would want to take her if she was blind, or if she ‘wasn’t worth it’ or something. That also might lend to her character’s desperate need to prove herself and live to a certain standard. Maybe especially if she started losing her sight once she was already inducted.

because I was thinking- I wanted to give her some sort of magical version of her eyebuds in the AU (which would also explain why her eyes are blue). But I didn’t want to give her any kind of superhuman abilities with them? because I wanted her to still fit within the physics of the world. anyway. Idk if this makes sense. So I figured instead of superhuman magic eyes, her eyebuds are just magic that gives her the ability to see. Also they make her eyes blue. Again! Idk if I’m going with it but it’s an idea I’ve been playing with.

[kacievvbbbb]

Honestly despite my feelings about how the last arc of MHA went down I really love Deku and his story.

I just feel like a lot of the time we get these protagonists whose whole philosophy is it doesn’t matter what you were born as everyone can achieve greatness. But then the series goes on and it turns out that actually it DOES matter because the protagonist has this really great lineage and these really great powers you can only have through birth they were actually born born, predestined if you will, to do this.

But MHA actually sticks to its guns. Midoriya wasn’t revealed to have some great connection to all might that the universe had put in place. He wasn’t defended from some great lineage that makes him uniquely suited to this. Hell All for one didn’t even turn out to be his father, there was no hidden powerful quirk he was always meant to have. He was just Midoriya Izuku a boy who was in the right place at the right time and simply decided to act while the world did nothing. And that’s what really made him a hero.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I believe him a bit more when he goes anybody can be a hero if you just decide to act

[gayfortheplot]

I know we're ignoring canon right now, but can. Can we just talk about Dabi's ending for a second? Because like. What the fuck? This guy's been suffering his entire life. From being abused by his father, to being kidnapped and experimented on while he's in a coma, just to escape and go home to find out his worst fears have come true, his family abandoned him, they never really cared. Then, he spends the next 8 years homeless, where he damages his body so much to the point he's being held together by staples? How painful was his daily life?? No wonder he wanted to die. His life was hell. And now, he spends his last days alive trapped in a fucking fish tank, in excruciating agony (you cannot tell me he isn't in any pain. He has no fucking skin left, along with his other injuries. Not to mention the emotional and psychological trauma once again inflicted on him). He doesn't get to choose whether or not he wants to keep living through this nightmare. He doesn't get to choose whether or not he wants Endeavor to visit him every day. No one asks him his opinion on any of this. They decide for him, and he doesn't have the strength left to protest. He can't move, can't talk, can't do anything. All he can do is sit there, watching on helplessly, with the knowledge that after his death, his family will once again leave him behind and forget all about him. He'll never see the League again, the only people in the world who actually loved him unconditionally and never saw him as a problem or a mistake. He has to die with the knowledge that he failed. His family won't ever truly see him as a person, and he never, not once in his life, got to be happy.

[bonefall]

I personally like Thunder's prosthetic. Explained it to my friend (who does use a mobility device, a cane and wheelchair, and listens to me rant and infodump about BB) and they agreed, it's important to know that not every person needs what someone wants to give them. It's another example of "bad ableist person does a thing that hurts a disabled person because they are bad and ableist".

Clear Sky got Jagged Peak killed and would have killed Sunlit Frost! He would absolutely force his disabled son to be "normal" and present it like a privilege. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else, it's special, why don't you want to be helped?"

Thunder Storm should toss it in Clear Sky's face. (I would say toss it into the river but we do not pollute waterways in this house)

Thank you for telling me this, and tell your friend I'm thanking them too! If they have anything else to add please forward what they have to say

Since BB!DOTC tackles some of the heaviest topics in the entire series because its canon equivalent is so dark, I think very carefully about what I do here and how I show it. I take feedback on its sensitive aspects very seriously. If I'm understanding the criticism properly, it's that I should avoid stigmatizing prosthetics by making sure Thunder Storm's not the only one with it-- which he's not! And I'll add even more.

I don't want to avoid something only because it's uncomfortable if the topic is important, and my portrayal is respectful. Ableism IS uncomfortable! There are some situations where a prosthetic is not wanted! I think the rejection of this particular one is both a good opportunity to show a type of ableism and ALSO is very fitting for the characters.

In BB!Clear Sky's mind, the villain, he's fixing an old mistake. He can't admit that he got Jagged Peak killed or take REAL accountability for it (though he will, occasionally, apologize insincerely), but deep in his bones, he knows what he did was cruel. He'll never tell anyone this because he doesn't really cognate it himself, but Thunder Storm NEEDS to take his gift.

If Thunder doesn't take it, it blows a hole in his newest story. You see, throwing Jagged Peak out was All That Could Have Been Done back then. It was a Tragedy and he simply Made A Hard Choice. He regrets it very much, But You Have To Understand.

But now? Now? Well, behold. Look at what he's accomplished since the tragic death of his little brother. His cats are well-fed, cared for, and stable enough to make such incredible advancements. If only Jagged Peak had been able to hold on longer, if only he could be here now, I could fix him.

Just like I can (MAKE YOU JUST LIKE ME) fix you.

"Everything I've ever done is for Jagged Peak. For Fluttering Wing. For you." Thunder Sky is SPECIAL, but if he rejects any gift, tries to turn down the "privileges" offered to him, in an instant that becomes ungratefulness and arrogance. He both forces him to be special, and then leverages it against him if it's rejected. "Spoiled brat, doesn't appreciate what I've worked so hard to give him."

It all goes back to him and his own guilt. He can NEVER be wrong. He can't accept his family doesn't have to be "normal" or reflect his own ability. He won't see himself as a bully, let alone a murderer. It was never about his son's comfort or finding out what Thunder Storm wants or needs, it was about his own ego.

...All that said I'm still taking feedback if there's anything else I should keep in mind, or if anyone has a counter point, especially if you also have experience here.

(In the interest of having a link trail for posterity, here's the critique/call for feedback this is in response to)

[echo-stimmingrose]

Fuck Frank Zhang being randomly neurotypical for no reason. He's ADHD and Dyslexic just like the rest of them he's just our, went so long being undiagnosed, representation. Oh he's also autistic.

[ebonyheartnet]

Random Child: It’s so cool that Daredevil’s just like me!

Nanny: And why’s that, honey?

Child: Like, sensory stuff gets overwhelming for him and Spidey, and they can still be heroes!

Child: He’s not good at eye contact either, but that’s okay. His hero friends are really cool about it anyways!

Child: Mom was right; being Autistic is awesome!

Daredevil, 6 blocks away: Aww.

-3 days later-

Spider-Man: Hey Double-D, long time no see!

Daredevil: Always is, webhead.

Spider-Man: Whatcha been up to lately?

Daredevil: Not much, but this kid said the cutest thing the other day.

Spider-Man: Are you gonna tell me or just keep it to yourself?

Daredevil: They were just really happy to see autistic adults being heroes.

Spider-Man: Wait, you’re autistic?

Matt, assuming Peter also got clocked at 7: You didn’t know yet??

[creativesplat]

a little doodle of my favourite fire emblem guys (modern au!)

[skys-archive]

If we ever get an HoO tv show, I would LOVE if they gave Jason albinism. It would just be great to have that representation, especially if it was done well.

It wouldn't need to be a big focus and honestly it would be kind of weird if it was, but just little things. He could wear protective glasses, and maybe have him shielding his eyes if there's a time they get knocked off or he has to remove them.

[waitingforlostsouls]

Reading this document about how to analyze literature for one of my classes, and one of the points is that if a character with a sickness or disability is included, there must be some sort of deeper symbolic meaning. Still waiting on how this applies to my own life having a chronic illness; but I'm sure the author will totally address this and not move on without explaining what he means at all. Except of course, until he does...

[bg3smash-or-pass]

In response to the recent (unpublished) anon I received:

(I won’t be answering the asks directly, to condense my response into one post)

Having now read Khalid’s Baldur’s Gate and Forgotten Realms wiki entries, I think it’s actually really neat that Khalid was deliberately given an explicit stutter and it isn’t just a shorthand to convey his timidness like I assumed it was, being a game from 1998.

But also.. Khalid is still anxious. That’s not just a “horrid ableist assumption,” that’s how his character is written. Many companions in Baldur’s Gate I are described as viewing him as “cowardly”. His whole character seems to be that classic idea of, yknow, bravery not being the absence of fear but doing everything heroic in spite of it.

I’m sorry you’ve seen enough bullshit ableism surrounding Khalid that your knee-jerk reaction to someone saying he sounds anxious is to feel that they are making fun of his disability and saying he’s cowardly and incompetent.

But coming into my ask box, insinuating I am making fun of his disability to make “myself feel superior”, asking if I ever get tired of “finding new lows to stoop to”, and demanding I take my post out of Khalid’s tag so you “don’t have to be forced to see how lowly I think of him” is just. Not it.

[mirukosbitchywife]

me reaching out my silly little disabled hands to rub my disabilities all over fictional characters (i know some of their disabilities are canon but some aren't)

tomura has severe eczema and also isnt he like an amputee

dabi has chronic pain obviously and due to his burns have lost some functionality in his eyes

izuku has arthritis

shouto can't see out of his burned eye

katsuki is deaf

present mic is deaf

aizawa is also half blind

miruko is an amputee

twice has did

mina suffers from acidosis commonly

[imaginarianisms]

d. does this mean that. jon won't be able to like. speak properly or breathe properly when he resurrects. bc him being taught to relearn to speak would be WILD.

[echonvoid]

Happy (late) Leap Year day! Have some rabbit/rabbit-themed characters, of which I have more of than I realized. Ya got some deku and his new mentor, the baddest bitch Mirko. All Might is still alive but his duties have spread more to being a dad to all of 2-A, not just Deku.

And some fun art of Mirko and her girlfriend Fuyumi, whom I love and adore as an enby lesbian. This fuyumi is post-manga arc, hence all the scars. (I don’t know why I made Mirko tri-colored)

Then here’s just a random doodle I did.

And last but certainly not least, my oc Alopé! They’re a jackalope humanoid, that’s kinda an oc for Kipo (ataow) but kinda my own thing too. And their poppy playtime Smiling Critters version (they glow in the dark!)

[smzeszikorova]

AU where they have a tentative truce during July and Hero always shows up late to their meetings.

[victorian-vampir]

Hey, D&D players?

If one of your party members or player characters has a disability of some kind, say they're partially or fully blind, have a mobility aid, are mentally ill, are deaf, anything at all, let's not try and "fix" them? This goes for fictional and fantasy stuff too, if one of your party members is a werewolf or a vampire or undead and they are comfortable and okay with being that way and do not want to change, unless you have explicit consent of that player to heal them for a dramatic moment of the story, don't fucking try.

Leave disabled pc and npcs alone. Making that man not blind anymore isn't heroic it's just ableist.

[blackbirds-on-the-marsh]

[ID: a screenshot of the reply “same with physical disabilities tbh.” End ID.]

when u go to write a mentally ill person in ur story you are presented two options. the first option is to write your mental illness realistically as you actually experience it with all the ups and downs and people who are like you will resonate with it and feel seen. except every person who reads instagram infographics on mental health that uses the phrase narcicisst for anyone who does anything that crosses them and unironically call themself a dark empath will call you scary and tell you that youre demonizing mentally ill people

the second option is to lie and write inspiration porn for those people to get hard to